4 September 2011
So, on the afternoon of the 3rd, we made our way into the anchorage to meet Goody. It was quite hairy coming round the coast of Tahiti, after not seeing another boat for quite a while. We had to negotiate a fast-moving passenger ferry here, a stubborn fishing boat there. Tahiti has a fringe of reef, so on the outside it looks choppy with wind, then there is a surf over the reef that you can't see and then it is beautifully calm with turquoise waters and many many yachts at anchor. When we came through the pass, we didn't just have to navigate through the channel markers but also jetskis, mini speedboats and wakeboarders, most who liked to fall off just in front of us! We were pleased to eventually find Goody, but it was so busy near them and most of the yachts were on buoys. Eventually we found a buoy, tied up and spent a lovely evening catching up with Jacolette, the kids playing nicely together.
We were woken at about 6am the next morning by the owner of a floating bar who wanted us off his buoy - oops! He did us a favour really though as we could moor up to the marina and fill our water tanks - bliss, get rid of our rubbish and make an early start on the laundry. It really is Piccadily Circus here, so finding a spot to anchor was difficult, but we are now squeezed in probably closer to other boats than our liking in deeper water than we would normally choose. It's fine for now. A trip to the shops for a little provisioning set us back £100 - yikes- and then another play with Goody. I think we'll be seeing a lot of them over the next couple of weeks. Tomorrow will be Customs and Immigration day and then school can begin properly. Current location: 17.34S 149.37W

3rd September 2011
The winds eventually slackened enough for us to whack an engine on as we don't want to arrive in the dark, but if we keep up the pace we are going we should be tucked up in the anchorage by sunset this evening (Saturday.) I hope the shops are open on Sunday, but I'm not holding my breath! We are all missing having snacky type food, but I have been trying to use up all the popcorn as it needs to be used before NZ or it will be confiscated. Also, all our dried beans, rice, honey etc etc need to be used. I'm not sure how many dried beans I am going to be able to use up, but I'm trying my hardest. Lentil soup for lunch again, guys! I made what was supposed to be a lasagne using soya chunks which looked like winalot dog biscuits and once soaked tasted like pedigree chum. Only Mark could eat his dinner last night and for once I didn't make the kids eat it! Mark fixed the autopilot so I didn't have to helm by hand anymore. Goody our friends are still in Tahiti so we are looking forward to seeing them again, after a month or so. Joop the dad has flown back to SA for a couple of weeks for a work contract, but Mark and I think that that coincides suspiciously with the rugby world cup! I did ask Mark if he wanted us to bypass Tahiti and aim straight for NZ, but even he passed on the offer. I'm sure they'll show the games on TV here somewhere!

2 Sept 2011
Well, the GRIB files said 5-6 knots of wind and we know from experience that Pegasus doesn't really move in such light winds, so we had fully anticipated motoring most of the way to Tahiti, but once again what we are experiencing doesn't really seem to match what was predicted and we've not had to have the engines on at all yet. We appear to have added another thing to mend when we get to Tahiti as the autopilot is not playing ball at the moment. Mark will have to have a look at it on his next watch. As I've said before, I'll be glad to get to Tahiti to fill up the water tanks which are now empty. We have plenty drinking water and brackish water for washing, but let's just say my hair has known better days! It's just as well we've not had to wear much the past few weeks, as the laundry pile is growing and our fresh pants stock diminishing! Ever since we designed some rain catchers it hasn't rained a drop! Also, we are onto our last gas bottle and you never can predict when it will run out. Yes, we'll be pleased to do a spot of topping up in Tahiti. We may even splash out and have a couple of nights in a marina just to make things easier - we haven't done that since Lanzarote - now where are the mooring lines?

Well, yesterday saw more of the same - sharks moseying on by for breakfast scraps, a dinghy ride to the South pass for another amazing snorkel, and paddling in the most awesome clear water - this place is just phenominal! The dive school had kindly arranged for our bikes to be transported down from the Northern pass, but when they hadn't arrived by 4pm, the kids needed food and we were hot and tired so we headed back to the boat. Just as we arrived back, we saw the boat arrive, so we resigned ourselves to leaving today instead. Mark picked the bikes up and found out that slack tide was at 11.30, the best time to go through the pass. Lifting the anchor was nerve-wracking as we had anchored in coral. Indeed, we got the chain caught on a coral head, but the visibility was so good, we could easily see how to unravel it from the rocks and after then, it came up fine. We negotiated the corl heads our of the pass and are now sailing towards Tahiti, albeit slowly as the wind is slight. Oh to be flying a massive spinnekar out the front of the boat! Current posn: 16.38S 145.34W

An early start down the the Southern pass. As we left the anchorage we realised that we had left the kids' bikes locked up to the dive centre in the North. So, either a friendly yacht will bring them down, or we'll have to go back up again en route to Tahiti. Bummer. We are now in the Southern Pass, another beautiful location. We nudged our way gently through the coral heads into an anchorage that is partly sand and partly coral, so leaving should be interesting. Fingers crossed we don't get our chain wrapped. The water is crystal clear and we can see pretty much all of the anchor chain (30m) that we have put out. Now we've been here a little longer than planned, we are very grateful to Luna for the jerry can of fresh water they gave us - I'm looking forward to the showers in Tahiti!

If you're going to have 3 extra boat kids for a sleepover, then take a leaf out of my book and take them all for a 5 hour walk first. It guarantees they will all be asleep by 8.30pm, 3 of the 5 children actually asking if they can go to bed! The extra children? From Luna, a Danish boat. I am so impressed with their English. The 12 and 9 year old can pretty much have a conversation with us. I had popped over to Luna to ask for the waypoint for the Southern Pass anchorage and the boys were keen to play with Lochy. As we had already arranged to go for a walk with the Italian family, we invited them along too. This time we turned left along the long flat road, and we enjoyed the usual - climbing coconut trees, racing hermit crabs, finding pearls and paddling with sharks - as you do on a Saturday morning stroll! Back to find the diving school had rescued our dinghy which, despite the fact that we had dragged it up over the tide line, had drifted off due to the largest tide for years, a result of the cyclone over New York at the moment. The Tuamotus are on 'Code Red' weather wise, due to the high swell around the area and no boats are allowed to enter or leave the atolls until the swell dies down. So, we decided against going to the Southern pass today, instead, having the 3 Luna kids over for a sleepover. The swell should all die down in a couple of days, so we'll head off again soon to pick up our Satelite phone that has been delivered to Tahiti. After we've had tea with Tom and Katie!